Blog of Three Thirds(and lots of Headings) - The General Election will soon be upon us here in the UK and 'It's all about the cant, 'bout the cant, not the truuth' and if you want to give the election third a miss tab down to just after Shelley's 'The Mask of Anarchy' quote. The second third is all about the Vic and Subway Sect news/updates and then there's the third third which covers everything else. Hard to believe we're on British summertime and that it is only just over a month until the Vic Godard & Subway Sect NSEW Tour starts in earnest with a stonker in Birmingham, all gig details and other goodies below........after the politics (you know, no pleasure without pain!).

Election Thoughts - HARD WON RIGHTS- Personal Preachy Bit.
There are peoples across the globe who can only imagine in their very wildest dreams these rights that we in the EU are privileged to enjoy by law, rights that at least two of the political parties under consideration in the forthcoming UK General Election, Tories and the Faraaage, want to at the very least dilute. I think most of us have forgotten too many of these basic human rights rights however I think it's those seeking election who really need to polish up on them and why the UN created them in 1948 in the first place. The List provided by Youth For Human Rights International, adapted
and simplified from the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights: http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/ and
part of an article by musician Sarah Melodyin SamaritanMag 2009: http://www.samaritanmag.com/we-have-30-basic-human-rights-do-you-know-them

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

1. We are all free and equal. We are all born free. We all have our own thoughts and ideas. We should all be treated in the same way.

3. The right to life. We all have the right to life, and to live in freedom and safety.

4. No slavery – past and present. Nobody has any right to make us a slave. We cannot make anyone our slave.5. No Torture. Nobody has any right to hurt us or to torture us.6. We all have the same right to use the law. I am a person just like you!7. We are all protected by the law. The law is the same for everyone. It must treat us all fairly.8. Fair treatment by fair courts. We can all ask for the law to help us when we are not treated fairly.9. No unfair detainment. Nobody has the right to put us in prison without a good reason and keep us there, or to send us away from our country.10. The right to trial. If we are put on trial this should be in public. The people who try us should not let anyone tell them what to do.11. Innocent until proven guilty.
Nobody should be blamed for doing something until it is proven. When
people say we did a bad thing we have the right to show it is not true.12. The right to privacy. Nobody
should try to harm our good name. Nobody has the right to come into our
home, open our letters or bother us or our family without a good reason.13. Freedom to move. We all have the right to go where we want in our own country and to travel as we wish.14. The right to asylum. If we are
frightened of being badly treated in our own country, we all have the
right to run away to another country to be safe.15. The right to a nationality. We all have the right to belong to a country.16. Marriage and family. Every
grown-up has the right to marry and have a family if they want to. Men
and women have the same rights when they are married, and when they are
separated.17. Your own things. Everyone has the right to own things or share them. Nobody should take our things from us without a good reason.18. Freedom of thought. We all have the right to believe in what we want to believe, to have a religion, or to change it if we want.19. Free to say what you want. We
all have the right to make up our own minds, to think what we like, to
say what we think, and to share our ideas with other people.20. Meet where you like. We all
have the right to meet our friends and to work together in peace to
defend our rights. Nobody can make us join a group if we don’t want to.21. The right to democracy. We all
have the right to take part in the government of our country. Every
grown-up should be allowed to choose their own leaders.22. The right to social security.
We all have the right to affordable housing, medicine, education, and
child care, enough money to live on and medical help if we are ill or
old.23. Workers’ rights. Every grown-up has the right to do a job, to a fair wage for their work, and to join a trade union.24. The right to play. We all have the right to rest from work and to relax.25. A bed and some food. We all
have the right to a good life. Mothers and children, people who are old,
unemployed or disabled, and all people have the right to be cared for.26. The right to education.
Education is a right. Primary school should be free. We should learn
about the United Nations and how to get on with others. Our parents can
choose what we learn.27. Culture and copyright.
Copyright is a special law that protects one’s own artistic creations
and writings; others cannot make copies without permission. We all have
the right to our own way of life and to enjoy the good things that
“art,” science and learning bring.28. A free and fair world. There must be proper order so we can all enjoy rights and freedoms in our own country and all over the world.29. Our responsibilities. We have a duty to other people, and we should protect their rights and freedoms.

And last but not least - 30. Nobody can take away these rights and freedoms from us.UNLESS WE LET THEM.

Just a reminder - Who was it who nearly caused global financial meltdown and left behind decades of debt that we The People, (where ever we
live) are paying for and will continue to pay for for the foreseeable future
if the political status quo is not given a serious shake up? In the UK, hm, let me see, was it migrants and immigration? No, migrants have boosted the UK's economy. Was it overspending on education, social housing, the NHS, the police, benefits,any other public service or the Arts? No, their budgets have all been slashed. Was it a result of being in the EU? Just, No. Please Rememberit was the greedy bankers/fat cats/hedge funds/global corporations/Oil companies,etc., enabled by the Labour Party, Tories, Lib-Dems and their many and nefarious supporters in successive governments and we are paying for their mistakes and 'errors of judgement'. (They might also like to remember who pays their wages and 'expenses' and remind me, what was it Mr Faraaage did for a living before his more recent banal escapades? That's it, commodities trader.) The only way to let politicians know we've had enough of the same old cow towing to vested interest at the People's expense is if we have a turn out like the one for the Scottish Referendum.* This is why it seriously ticks me off when a celebrity, who seems happy enough to play up to the third estate's branding of him as one of our (UK's? London's? the world's?) most influential media figures, suggests that young people could follow his example and not bother to vote because there's nothing for them on offer. I suggest, to begin with, locking this person in a room full of women, from all corners of the globe, for a couple days (think maybe it would only take an hour at most but think he deserves at least two days) to learn why having the right to vote, having the right to vote freely and using that vote is so important. http://www.bl.uk/learning/histcitizen/21cc/struggle/suffrage/background/suffragettesbackground.htmlThen suggest he spend time with people living under the rule of any murderous tyranny who are imprisoned, tortured and dying in the struggle for democracy and the right to speak and choose freely, to name a few - Saudi Arabia, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan & the other 'stans, Iraq, Iran, Hong Kong, China, Russia, Egypt, ISIS or Taliban or Boko Haram controlled areas.........

Rise like Lions after Slumber
In unvanquishable number
Shake your chains to earth like dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you
Ye are many, they are few

Anyway whatever your political persuasion.......

*Point of order
If we are the 'United' Kingdom and Westminster based/controlled/funded parties can field candidates in Scotland, ie Labour, Tories, etc., then why can't, say the SNP, field candidates in England, so it's a level field for everyone? In my opinion Nicola Sturgeon knocks the socks off the other party leaders, as a politician, political orator and the only one to demonstrate party leadership skills, which the others seem to lack, in spades, so it's lucky for them that we can't vote for her to be PM and unlucky for us. A tad pathetic (and futile) that some seem so scared of Ms Sturgeon they feel the need to spread spurious slurs about her. Did she crumble? Did she lay down and die? No, she'll survive! http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/apr/04/nicola-sturgeon-snp-anti-austerity-message-tories?CMP=share_btn_tw

INTERMISSION

A couple of things occurring during the INTERMISSION - I can't
tell you yet about the June Event yet but Vic and the gnu will be heading
north for something VERY special. In July Vic is heading to Belgrade for
VICLEKA, an exhibition by A M Leka that Vic's been collaborating with
Leka on. The limited edition works will be available to buy and 50 of them will include a
gnuinc very limited edition CD of the songs referenced in the works.
This is not the first time Vic has been involved in one of Leka's exhibitions and Leka also designed the covers for the gnu inc Live & Rares - and . https://balkanartsandbeyond.wordpress.com/2014/04/18/punk-and-hybrid-print-aleksandar-mladenovic-leka/http://www.vicgodard.co.uk/LiveandRare_vol1.html
Gnu's done a Vic/Leka history: http://vicgodardandsubwaysect.blogspot.co.uk/p/vicleka.html
PS Talking of Live and Rares, Vic is still cassette rummaging and fortuitously came upon Lee McFadden's recording of a gig Vic did at the Dublin Castle (7th August 1998, Long Decline supporting - thanks Tracey H for the info) with Pete Saunders and his group. It's a mixture of songs from TROUBLE and Long Term Side Effect and sounds great. It has been dispatched to the Doctor of Music Mike Coe and we're hopeful this will be L&R Vol 3!

Following
the intermission it's off to Dublin! Vic's not played there before
however he and the gnu did visit Dublin a few years ago for a wedding
they didn't actually attend in the
end. A long story, at one point Vic & Gnu contemplated breaking in
to a boarded up hotel, an alarm already ringing, thinking it was not
outside the bounds of possibility that it was a ruse of the groom's to
test the mettle and ingenuity of their guests.......it wasn't!
(There may be a couple of readers who attended this wedding in Dublin
who may know who I'm referring to.) The Talented
Mr Shaw has really been spoiling us with the iconic new poster designs,
my current favourites (changes every time Andrew sends a new one!) are
the ones for Bernie Connor's Birthday Bash in Liverpool and Fibber
Magees Dublin. We are bringing a limited number of the 'Shaw Designs' posters to the respective gigs. http://www.vicgodard.co.uk/vic_godard_live.html

Freddie Mercury The Great Pretender - Director's Cut
I watched this fascinating and enlightening documentary on the BBC the other night, I'm not a Queen fan (pomp rock not for me) and I didn't know much about Mr Mercury, for example I didn't know he was lyricist and composer. A complex and intriguing person, highly recommend. The video below is a Queen song I do like, 'Don't Stop Me Now', something quite moving about it with hindsight. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01pkbc7/freddie-mercury-the-great-pretender-directors-cut

It's All About The Bass: Carol Kaye at 80 - BBC Radio 4
Carol Kaye is an extraordinary woman, not only an outstanding bass player, who provided bass lines for Phill Spector, Beach Boys, for the M*A*S*H theme, for 'The Way We Were' song, among many others, Quincy Jones considered Ms Kaye indispensable and that's the start of her talents. https://www.carolkaye.com/http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05nk25s

That's all, although I may add a few things as they come to me, for now I'll leave you with the OJays very sound advice to join a 'Love Train'. Gert out.x